Chapter 2

The Divorce Papers

Elena

The penthouse felt like a tomb when I finally made it home. My hands shook as I fumbled with the key, my body still weak from fainting earlier. The familiar scent of vanilla candles and expensive leather that once comforted me now felt suffocating.

I'd waited in Adrian's office for over an hour after pretending to wake up, listening to him make call after call to his lawyer. Each conversation drove the knife deeper into my chest. He spoke about our marriage like it was a failed business merger, discussing asset division and settlement terms with the same cold efficiency he used in board meetings.

Now, standing in our marble foyer, I felt like a stranger in my own home. Everything looked the same, the crystal chandelier Adrian had imported from Italy, the painting we'd bought together in Paris during our honeymoon, the fresh orchids the housekeeper arranged every week. But nothing would ever be the same again.

"Adrian?" I called out, my voice echoing in the vast space. "We need to talk."

The sound of his footsteps on the hardwood floor made my stomach clench. He appeared at the top of the grand staircase, still in his work clothes, his face as cold and unreadable as it had been in his office.

"You're home." His tone was flat, like he was stating the weather. "Good. This saves me a trip."

He descended the stairs with measured steps, his hand sliding along the banister with the same casual confidence he'd once used to touch my face. When he reached the bottom, he didn't move toward me. Instead, he maintained the distance between us like an invisible wall.

"Adrian, please," I stepped forward, my voice breaking. "Can we just talk about this? What happened today... there has to be an explanation. This isn't you. This isn't us."

His laugh was sharp, bitter. "Us? Elena, there is no 'us.' There hasn't been for a long time."

"But our marriage.."

"Our marriage was a mistake." The words hit me like a slap. "I should have ended it years ago, but I was too busy building my empire to deal with the mess." He straightened his tie, the same gesture he'd made in his office while my world crumbled. "Consider today a favor. I'm finally setting us both free."

Tears burned my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Not again. Not in front of him. "Adrian, I love you. We can work through this. Couples therapy, a vacation, whatever you need—"

"Love?" He tilted his head, studying me like I was speaking a foreign language. "Elena, you don't love me. You love the idea of me. You love the lifestyle, the status, the security. But you don't actually know me at all."

"That's not true." My voice cracked despite my efforts to stay strong. "I've been by your side for three years. I've supported your dreams, your business.."

"You've been a decoration," he interrupted coldly. "A beautiful, well-behaved decoration that I trotted out for charity galas and business dinners. Nothing more."

The cruelty in his voice made me physically recoil. This wasn't the man who'd proposed to me on the beach in Santorini. This wasn't the man who'd held me while I cried over my father's death. This was a stranger wearing my husband's face.

"I don't understand," I whispered. "When did you become so heartless?"

"I didn't become anything, Elena. I've always been this way. You just chose not to see it."

Before I could respond, I heard the click of high heels on marble. My blood turned to ice as Maya appeared from the direction of the kitchen, wearing a silk robe that I recognized immediately, it was mine. My favorite one, the one Adrian had given me last Christmas.

But that wasn't what made my heart stop. It was what she was wearing underneath the robe that caught my attention. My diamond necklace, the one Adrian had given me for our first anniversary glittered at her throat. My grandmother's pearl earrings adorned her ears. She was wearing my jewelry like it already belonged to her.

"Oh good, you're home," Maya said with that same smirk from earlier. She walked over to Adrian and slipped her arm through his with casual familiarity. "We weren't sure when you'd be back from your little fainting spell."

"Maya." Her name came out as a hoarse whisper. "You're wearing my…."

"Your what?" She touched the necklace with her free hand, her eyes sparkling with malicious amusement. "Oh, this old thing? Adrian gave it to me. Said it looked better on someone who actually appreciates quality."

The room spun around me. Not only had they destroyed my marriage, but now they were erasing me from my own home, replacing me piece by piece.

"Take it off," I said, my voice stronger than I expected. "Take off my jewelry and get out of my house."

Maya laughed, the sound echoing off the high ceilings. "Your house? Sweetie, this is Adrian's house. You're just a guest who's overstayed her welcome."

Adrian reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a thick manila envelope. He tossed it onto the coffee table between us like it was yesterday's newspaper.

"Divorce papers," he said simply. "My lawyer worked fast. Sign them, and you can leave with some dignity intact."

I stared at the envelope like it was a venomous snake. "I won't sign anything."

"Elena." His voice carried a warning now, a hardness that made my skin crawl. "Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be."

"Difficult?" I laughed, but there was no humor in it. "You destroy our marriage, humiliate me with my best friend, and I'm the one making things difficult?"

"You're being dramatic," Maya chimed in, examining her nails with bored indifference. "Just sign the papers and move on. Surely you have some pride left."

"Get out," I said, turning to face her fully. "Get out of my house, and take off my jewelry."

"Make me," she challenged, stepping closer to Adrian. "Oh wait, you can't. Because this isn't your house anymore, and these aren't your jewels anymore. Adrian gave them to someone who deserves them."

I lunged forward, reaching for the necklace, but Adrian caught my wrist in a grip that would leave bruises.

"Don't," he said, his voice deadly quiet. "Don't embarrass yourself any further."

"Let go of me." I tried to pull free, but his grip tightened.

"Sign the papers, Elena. Now."

"No."

His eyes flashed with something dangerous. "You want to do this the hard way? Fine." He released my wrist and pulled out his phone. "One call to my legal team, and your family's construction business disappears overnight. Your father's company, your brother's job, your mother's medical bills, all of it gone."

The blood drained from my face. My father's construction company was small but successful, employing over fifty people including my younger brother. My mother's cancer treatments were expensive, even with insurance. Adrian knew exactly where to hit me to cause the most damage.

"You wouldn't," I breathed.

"Try me." His smile was cold, predatory. "I have contracts with half the suppliers in the city. One word from me, and your family's business becomes radioactive. No one will work with them. No bank will lend to them. I'll destroy them piece by piece, just like I'm destroying you."

Maya clapped her hands together, delighted by the threat. "Oh, I love it when you're ruthless, darling. It's so sexy."

I wanted to fight. Every fiber of my being screamed at me to stand my ground, to call his bluff. But the image of my father's devastated face, of my brother losing his livelihood, of my mother unable to afford her treatments, paralyzed me.

"You're a monster," I whispered.

"I'm a businessman," Adrian corrected. "And you're a liability I can no longer afford."

The fight went out of me all at once. My shoulders sagged, and I felt myself shrinking under their combined gaze. They had won, and we all knew it.

"I need time to pack," I said quietly.

"You have until tomorrow morning," Adrian said, already turning away from me. "Take only what you brought to the marriage. Everything else stays here."

"Including the jewelry," Maya added sweetly. "Since it was all gifts to the wife position, not to you personally."

I watched them walk away together, Maya's laughter trailing behind them like poison in the air. When I heard the bedroom door close upstairs, I finally allowed myself to collapse onto the couch, my body shaking with suppressed sobs.

Hours later, as the sun set through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I dragged myself to the guest bedroom where I'd been sleeping for months. I pulled out a suitcase and began mechanically folding the clothes Adrian deemed "appropriate for my station" – conservative dresses, sensible shoes, nothing too bright or attention-grabbing.

As I packed, a wave of nausea hit me so suddenly that I had to run to the bathroom. I barely made it before my stomach emptied itself violently. When the retching finally stopped, I sat on the cold marble floor, trying to catch my breath.

The stress, I told myself. The shock of everything that had happened. But even as I thought it, another possibility crept into my mind, one that made my blood run cold.

When was my last period?

With trembling hands, I searched through the guest bathroom cabinets until I found what I was looking for. The pregnancy test felt impossibly heavy in my shaking fingers as I read the instructions, my heart pounding so loud I was sure the entire building could hear it.

Three minutes felt like three hours. I paced the small bathroom, my mind racing with possibilities I wasn't ready to consider. This couldn't be happening. Not now. Not when my entire world was falling apart.

The timer on my phone buzzed. With hands that shook so violently I could barely hold the test steady, I looked down at the little window.

Two pink lines stared back at me.

Positive.

I was pregnant with Adrian's baby.

The test slipped from my numb fingers, clattering onto the marble floor just as the bathroom door opened behind me. In the mirror, I saw Adrian's reflection, his face shifting from annoyance to shock as he took in the scene, me on the floor, the p

regnancy test lying between us like a bomb that had just gone off.

"Elena," he said, his voice strangely quiet. "What is that?"